Hydraulic motor



March 14, 1939. B. J. PUGH HYDRAULIC MOTOR Filedlay 18; 1938 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 W j. W@

Mar 14, 193,9. Y B. J'PU'GH 2, 5

HYDRAULIC MOTOR Filed May 18, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 14, 1939 U TEo. STATES PATENT OFFICE 11 Claims.

This inventionrelates to improvements in hydrauli'c motors and'more particularlyv to water motors of the type designed to utilize the force of a flowingstream to: create power.

One ofthe objects of the invention is to provide a water motor of relatively simple, inexpensive and practical-construction, and one which is; not liable to get out of order.

Another object is to supply a hydraulic motor of the reciprocating vessel type so constructed, that eachbucket will travel its full stroke, whether'ascending or descending, in order to eliminate any-liability of the vessels halting midway of their strokes due to substantially equal amounts of water being trapped in the two vessels.

A further object is to furnish a water motor in which the force of the water rushing out of either vessel will function to control a gate which in turn controls the supply ofwater a1- temately to the vessels.

A stillfurtherobject is to provide a hydraulic motor, each vessel of which has an outlet valve in the form of a relatively large gate arranged at the bottom'portion of the vessel to permit rapid discharge of water from the vessel.

With the foregoing objects outlined and with other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

-Fig; 1 is a front elevation of my improved hydraulic motor.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a verticalsectional view taken on the line 3--3 of'Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of a modification of the invention.

Referring first to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the motor is supplied with flowing water by means of a a trough 5 having outlet branches 6 arid 1. The passage of the water through the branches is controlled by a valve or gate 8 pivotally' mounted at 9 to swing about a vertical axis; the pivot post having oppositely extending arms In and II which are actuated by means hereinafter described, in order to move the gate and'divert the water from one branch to the other branch and vice versa.

The branches terminate at the upper end of a frame-work I2 forming adjacent vertical shafts l3, each provided at its corners with angular guides or tracks M which constrain vessels l5 and Hi to move in vertical paths. Thecvessels are alternately filled with water and lowered from an uppermost position to a lowermost position.

Any suitable means may be employed to cause. the rise of an empty vessel as the other filled nected at l9 to supporting rods 20; the-lower,

ends of the rods being secured by pivotal connections 2| to the bottoms of the vessels.

Another rocking beam Ila is pivotally mounted at [8a on the frame of the machine and its ends slidably engage the bottoms of the vessels so that downward thrust of each vessel is resisted or balanced by the other vessel.

The'front wall 22 of each vessel is provided with a relatively large outlet or discharge port that is closed by a gate 23 hinged at 24 to the lower end of the front wall.

Each gate is held fora certain time in closed position by any suitable means, such as a latch 25, which may consist of a lever 26 pivotally connected at 21 to the bottom of the vessel. As the point of pivoting is nearer the hooked front end 28 of the lever than its opposite end 29, the latter functions as a weight to normally hold the'latch in closed position. However, as the bucket descends, the end 29 will strike an abutment or bar 30 at the rear of the shaft with the result that the hooked end 28 of the lever will move downwardly to release the gate 23.

In order to utilize the force of the Water discharged from the vessels to shift the gate 8,

any suitable means may be employed to opera-r tively connect the gates 23 to the arms l0 and H. For example, a rigid arm 3! may be rigidly secured to each gate 23. Each arm is pivotally connected at 32 to the lower end of a rigid link 33 that is guided vertically by a guide bracket 34 rigidly secured to the front wall of the vessel. Guide pulleys or sheaves 35 and 36 are mounted respectively on the front walls of the vessels and on the top of the frame l2, and a rope or cable 31 extends from each arm, III, II, about a pair of these sheaves and has its forward end connected at 38 to the upper end of the guide link 33. Owing to this construction, it will be understood that when a vessel is in its uppermost position, the cable 31 which is connected toits gate 23, will be slack, and afterwards when the vessel descends, the slack will be taken up. At the time the vessel reaches its lowermost position, the slack will be entirely taken up, and as soon as the gate 23 is unlatched, water rushing out of the vessel will swing the gate upwardly with the result that The power created by the'motor may be uti-- lized in any suitable way. For instance, I propose to arrange upstanding pump cylinders 40 immediately below the vessels to co-act'withplungers 4| arranged at the lower ends of the rods'flz which depend from the bottoms of the vessels.

The lower ends of the cylinders are supplied with the fluid to be pumped, by means of inlet pipes 4 3 having intake valves M. The pumped fluid passes from the" cylindersdnto discharge pipes 45, each having a discharge valve 46. The pipes 45 are connected to a' common discharge pipe 4'! that leads the pumped fluid to a suitable point of storage or utilization. Due to my construction, it will be appreciatedthat the pumped fluid maybe elevated by the pumping apparatus.

To insure closing 'of the outlet gates 23 as the.

vessels ascend, I arrange suitable stationary abutments 48 on the front tracks i4. As'the vessel rises, its gate will come into contact with the abutments, and'the gate will thus be forced into closed position where it will be latched by the latch 25.

In operation,'it will be assumed that the apparatus is placed in a flowing river or stream'ythe surface of which will be below the upper ends of the pump cylinders ill, provided the apparatus is not protected by a surrounding wall. Of course, if the apparatus has a surrounding wall, the apparatus may be arranged at a lower level.

In either event the trough 5' will extend upstream' to a point sufficiently far to gather the water,

' the'weight of which is to be utilized in operating the motor. With the parts in the. positions shown, the water will flow through 5 and 1 into the vessel l6, and as soon as enough liquid has been deposited in that vessel to overcome the weight of the empty vessel l5, vessel [6 will start to descend, and water will flow into the same until it reaches its lowermost position. Then its latch will be actuated by means of the abutment bar to release its gate 23, the latter opening as the water gushes out of the vessels. As the gate rises, it will pull on the cable 31 with which it is associated, with the result that the'arm II will be pulled forwardly to shift the inlet gate 8 'so as to divert the stream through the branch 6 into the vessel l5 which reached uppermost position when the vessel H5 reached lowermost position.

If the apparatus is built sufliciently large to enable the vessels to hold great amounts of water, I prefer instead of employing a single pumping cylinder 40 for each vesel to use four pumping cylinders 50 as indicated in Fig. 4. These cylinders will be arranged beneath the corners of each vessel and they will function not only as shock absorbers but as guide means to keep the vessel level while it is descending.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of the invention in such manner that the same may be readily under stood by those skilled in the art, I am aware that changes may be made in the details disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention as expressed in the claims.

What I' claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: a

1. A hydraulic motor of the character described, comprising a plurality of vessels, means for guiding the vessels and for causing each to rise as the other descends, means supplying water to the vessels when in uppermost position, valve means controlling the last-mentioned means for causing the water to flow to one vessel while is in uppermost position and for cutting off the supply of water at that time to the other vessel, a

discharge valve for each vessel opening in the direction of outward flow of water from the vessel,

and means. operatively connecting the discharge in uppermost position and for cutting 011 the supr ply of water at that time to the other vessel, means for discharging water from each vessel when it is in lowermost position, and means actuated by water discharged from each'vessel and operatively connected to said valve means for'causing shifting of the valve means to alternately supply water to the vessels when they are in uppermost position;

3. A hydraulic motor of the character described, comprising a plurality of vessels, means for guiding the vessels, and for causing each' to rise as the other descends, means supplying water to the vessels when in uppermost position, valve means controlling the last-mentioned means for causingthe water to flow to one vessel while it is in uppermost position and for cutting oil the supply of water at that time to the other vessel, a swinging gate valve for controlling the, discharge of water from each vessel, and means-operatively connecting the gate valve to said valve means for causing shifting of the valve means each time the gate valve of each vessel is opened.

4. A hydraulic motor of the character described, comprising a plurality of vessels, means for guiding the vessels and for causing each to rise as .the other descends, means supplying water to the vessels when in uppermost position; valve means controlling the last-mentioned means for causing the water to flow to one vessel while it is in uppermost position and for cutting ofi the supply of water at that time to theother vessel, a relatively large discharge port for each vessel, a swinging gate for closingeach port, and

means operatively connecting the gates to said valve means for causing shifting of the valve means each time the gate of each vessel is opened.

5. A hydraulic motor of the character described, comprising a plurality of vessels, means for guiding the vessels and for causing each to rise as the otherdescends, means supplying water to the vesels when in uppermost positiomvalve means controlling the last-mentioned means for causing the water to flow to one vessel while it is in uppermost position and for cutting off the supply of water at that time to the other vessel, an outwardly opening discharge valve for each vessel, means operatively connecting the discharge valves to said valve means for causing shifting of the valve means by a discharge valve each time the discharge valve of each vessel is opened, and means for positively closing the discharge valve of each vessel as the latter rises.

6. A hydraulic motor of the character described, comprising a plurality of vessels, means for guiding the vessels and for causing each to rise as the other descends, means supplying water to the vessels when in uppermost position, valve means controlling the last-mentioned means for causing the Water to flow to one vessel while it is in uppermost position and for cutting off the supply of water at that time to the other vessel, a relatively large discharge port for each vessel, gates closing said ports, each gate being hingedly connected to its respective vessel for swinging movement about a horizontal axis, and means operatively connecting the gates to said valve means for causing shifting of the valve means each time the gate of either vessel is opened.

7 A hydraulic motor of the character described, comprising a plurality of vessels, means for guiding the vessels and for causing each to rise as the other descends, means supplying water to the vessels when in uppermost position, valve means controlling the last-mentioned means for causing the water to flow to one vessel while it is in uppermost position and for cutting ofi the supply of water at that time to the other vessel, a relatively large discharge port for each vessel, gates closing said ports, each gate being hingedly connected to its respective vessel for swinging movement about a horizontal axis, means operatively connecting the gates to said valve means for causing shifting of the valve means each time the gate of either vessel is opened, and stationary abutments arranged in the paths of movement of the vessels and adapted to contact the gates to positively close the gates when the vessels ascend.

8. A hydraulic motor of the character described, comprising a'plurality of vessels, means for guiding the vessels and for causing each to rise as the other descends, means supplying water to the vessels when in uppermost position, valve means controlling the last-mentioned means for causing the water to flow to one vessel While it is in uppermost position and for cutting off the supply of water at that time to the other nected respectively to the last-mentioned arms and to said links.

9. A hydraulic motor of the character described, comprising a plurality of vessels, means for guiding the vessels and for causing each to rise as the other descends, means supplying water to the vessels when in uppermost position, valve means controlling the last-mentioned means for causing the water to flow to one vessel while it is in uppermost position and for cutting off the supply of water at that time to the other vessel, an outwardly opening discharge valve for each vessel, means operatively connecting the discharge valves to said valve means for causing shifting of the valve means by a discharge valve each time the discharge valve of each vessel is opened, stationary pumping cylinders, each pumping cylinder having a valved inlet and a valved outlet, plungers arranged to reciprocate in the cylinders, and means operatively connecting the plungers to the vessels for forcing fluid from the cylinders each time a vessel descends.

10. A hydraulic motor of the character described, comprising a plurality of vessels, means for guiding the vessels and for causing each to rise as the other descends, means supplying water to the vessels when in uppermost position, valve means controlling the last-mentioned means for causing the water to flow to one vessel while it is in uppermost position and for cutting off the supply of water at that time to the other vessel, an outwardly swinging discharge gate for each vessel, and means operatively connecting the lastmentioned gates to said valve means for causing shifting of the latter each time a discharge gate of a vessel is opened.

11. A hydraulic motor of the character described, comprising a plurality of vertical shafts arranged side by side, a plurality of vessels guided by said shafts, means operatively connected to the vessels for causing each to rise as the other descends, a trough having branches for leading water to the upper ends of the shafts, a swinging gate for controlling the flow of water from the trough to the branches to cut off the flow through one branch while permitting the water to flow into the other and vice versa, an outwardly swinging gate for controlling the discharge of water from each vessel, and means operatively connecting the last-mentioned gates to the first-mentioned gate for causing shifting of the latter each time a discharge gate of a vessel is opened.

BENJAMAN J. PUGH. 

